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Pick Up the House
"Hollo's poetry continually confounds as well as exceeds the reader's expectations."-- Small Press
112 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1986
About the author
Anselm Hollo
133 books25 followersAnselm Paul Alexis Hollo was a Finnish poet and translator. He lived in the United States from 1967 until his death in January of 2013.
Paavo Anselm Aleksis Hollo was born in Helsinki, Finland. His father, Juho Aukusti Hollo (1885–1967) — who liked to be known as "J. A." Hollo — was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Helsinki, an essayist, and a major translator of literature into Finnish. His mother was Iris Antonina Anna Walden, a music teacher and daughter of organic chemist Paul Walden. He lived for eight years in the United Kingdom producing three children: Hannes, Kaarina, and Tamsin, with his first wife, poet Josephine Clare. He was a permanent resident in the United States from the late 1960s until his death. At the time of his death and he resided in Boulder, Colorado with his second wife, artist Jane Dalrymple-Hollo.
Hollo published more than forty titles of poetry in the UK and in the US, in a style strongly influenced by the American beat poets.
In 1965, Hollo performed at the "underground" International Poetry Incarnation, London. In 2001, poets and critics associated with the SUNY Buffalo POETICS list elected Hollo to the honorary position of "anti-laureate", in protest at the appointment of Billy Collins to the position of Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
Hollo translated poetry and belles-lettres from Finnish, German, Swedish and French into English. He was one of the early translators of Allen Ginsberg into German and Finnish.
Hollo taught creative writing in eighteen different institutions of higher learning, including SUNY Buffalo, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Since 1985, he has taught in the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, where he held holds the rank of Full Professor.[2]
Hollo became ill, and during the summer of 2012, had brain surgery.
Several of his poems have been set into music by pianist and composer Frank Carlberg.
Poets Ted Berrigan and Alice Notley named their son Anselm Berrigan after Hollo.
Hollo died from post operative pneumonia on January 29, 2013 at the age of 78.
Paavo Anselm Aleksis Hollo was born in Helsinki, Finland. His father, Juho Aukusti Hollo (1885–1967) — who liked to be known as "J. A." Hollo — was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Helsinki, an essayist, and a major translator of literature into Finnish. His mother was Iris Antonina Anna Walden, a music teacher and daughter of organic chemist Paul Walden. He lived for eight years in the United Kingdom producing three children: Hannes, Kaarina, and Tamsin, with his first wife, poet Josephine Clare. He was a permanent resident in the United States from the late 1960s until his death. At the time of his death and he resided in Boulder, Colorado with his second wife, artist Jane Dalrymple-Hollo.
Hollo published more than forty titles of poetry in the UK and in the US, in a style strongly influenced by the American beat poets.
In 1965, Hollo performed at the "underground" International Poetry Incarnation, London. In 2001, poets and critics associated with the SUNY Buffalo POETICS list elected Hollo to the honorary position of "anti-laureate", in protest at the appointment of Billy Collins to the position of Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
Hollo translated poetry and belles-lettres from Finnish, German, Swedish and French into English. He was one of the early translators of Allen Ginsberg into German and Finnish.
Hollo taught creative writing in eighteen different institutions of higher learning, including SUNY Buffalo, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Since 1985, he has taught in the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, where he held holds the rank of Full Professor.[2]
Hollo became ill, and during the summer of 2012, had brain surgery.
Several of his poems have been set into music by pianist and composer Frank Carlberg.
Poets Ted Berrigan and Alice Notley named their son Anselm Berrigan after Hollo.
Hollo died from post operative pneumonia on January 29, 2013 at the age of 78.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 11, 2013
I enjoyed the spirit of the poet behind this work, but the work itself was not as appealing. In "See You Later," Hollo writes, "And I think, There has to be a trick, to end this dream, / the way there are tricks to end a poem" And it does seem like many of his last lines are the missing punctuation, poems I might otherwise warm up to, if it weren't for the closing line. For example, "Pup Canto," which utilizes white space that I don't think I can replicate here, is as follows:
Pup Canto
The body is frail,
even Odysseus',
give to him for a time (no
mileage charge):
stretched muscles, pinched nerves,
slipped disks, twisted joints,
broken bones, ah yes--
There is
a foot in the water,
alongside the boat
and the toes
feel pretty good
Amigo, we're buzzing along
I wanted the toes to feel something more surprising and that last line to be gone entirely. Simplicity is lovely, but so is inventiveness.
There's a mountain that becomes "emerald" and other instances where it all feels a bit unnatural, maybe even forced. There's a jocularity there too, a cheerful-big-guy kind of poetry that makes me want to enjoy it, as I might a sweet undergraduate student's sloppy poems, but I couldn't love the work for the work.
Pup Canto
The body is frail,
even Odysseus',
give to him for a time (no
mileage charge):
stretched muscles, pinched nerves,
slipped disks, twisted joints,
broken bones, ah yes--
There is
a foot in the water,
alongside the boat
and the toes
feel pretty good
Amigo, we're buzzing along
I wanted the toes to feel something more surprising and that last line to be gone entirely. Simplicity is lovely, but so is inventiveness.
There's a mountain that becomes "emerald" and other instances where it all feels a bit unnatural, maybe even forced. There's a jocularity there too, a cheerful-big-guy kind of poetry that makes me want to enjoy it, as I might a sweet undergraduate student's sloppy poems, but I couldn't love the work for the work.
November 16, 2012
Had an autographed copy of this I picked up at a book fair about 15 years ago. Carried it around the world with me and spent many an hour enjoying it particularly De Amor y Otras Cosas, one of my favourite poems. In a moment of sheer insanity, I gave it to my ex who was in the process of dumping me (tasteless bastard) which I suppose was my way of making sure he never forgot me. I am fairly certain he never looked at the book again and I missed it way more than I missed him.
May 14, 2019
One of Anselm Hollo’s best books in a sort of middle period after the culmination-of-early-Anselm Sojourner Microcosms & Finite Continued, his continuous songs from the early 60s onward. His transnational migration did American poetry a world of good even if the academics didn’t get the joke. “My heart wears a big floppy hat,” etc.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews